Jeff Bates

Jeff Bates was only 17 when he entered a honky tonk in his hometown of Bunker Hill, MS. He wasn’t there for the smoking cigarettes, consuming, or rabble-rousing; he was generally there to audition, expecting to property a present or two. The viewers went outrageous for his tone of voice — a variety of Barry Light, Elvis Presley, and Otis Redding — and before he understood it, Bates was provided a six-nights-a-week gig. All symptoms directed to Nashville, but before he’d make it happen, Bates had to fight a crippling methamphetamine obsession that eventually arrived him in prison. He experienced a religious awakening while locked up and surfaced from jail not merely clean and sober, but additionally powered and ambitious in ways he under no circumstances was before. Shifting to Nashville and doubling his function ethic, Bates captured the ear from the RCA label and arrived a record offer in 2002. The label released his debut, Rainbow Man, in 2003 and his sophomore work, Great People, in 2005. He kicked from the promotional marketing campaign for his 2006 launch, Keep the Light On, by carrying out the album’s solitary, “One Second Opportunity,” live in the Grand Aged Opry.